Remington 870 Jam

Thread Tools

Recently took the Remington 870 out clay shooting. After about 5 shots the gun began to jam with the shell hull lodged inside the barrel. I have researched online and found that others had similar problems especially while using the winchester universal loads from walmart. I cleaned the barrel and used a bore brush on a drill to polish the portion of the barrel where the shell goes into the barrel. Do you know of any other tips or quick fixes that will help this issue other than changing brands of ammo?

I call it a jam when the forend hangs so tight that you have to hit the stock on the ground while holding the forend to break it free. I have used this gun with federal ammunition with no problem and plan on switching back to it in the future.

I call it a jam when the forend hangs so tight that you have to hit the stock on the ground while holding the forend to break it free. I have used this gun with federal ammunition with no problem and plan on switching back to it in the future.

Click to expand...

The first comment was sarcasm.

I stand by the second comment though. Sometimes, one type of gun and one type of ammunition just don't get along. My Glock 26 hated WWB. Had someone with no shooting experience dealt with my 26 and just WWB ammo they would believe that the GLOCK is the most jam-o-matic pos ever produced. It ran fine with everything else though.

It was mostly the ammo. You have resolved a lot of the issue by what you did to the chamber. I use a wooden dowl and wrap a pad of 0 or 00 steel wool over it and tape it off. It looks like a super size Q-tip. I put that in my drill and polish the chamber and I have another dowl wrapped with 3/4 of a pad that I polish the bore with. I do this every time I clean the weapon and never have extraction issues.

Thanks guys, Doing the polishing job has helped and it does well with the ammo as long as I let the barrel cool down. We just ordered us an over/under from buds to shoot clays since we have now become addicted to it. Maybe I can run the winchester ammo through it and buy better quality stuff for the future.

I call it a jam when the forend hangs so tight that you have to hit the stock on the ground while holding the forend to break it free. I have used this gun with federal ammunition with no problem and plan on switching back to it in the future.

Click to expand...

EXACTLY what happened to my brothers AND one of my friends 870s, more frequent with Winchester ammo but still occured with Federal also. This is what ultimately made me purchase a Mossberg 590 (besides the price....and looks....safety location...slide release location...9 shots...you get the idea) Still flawless after thousands of rounds. Love my 590.

My buddy is having trouble with his 870 w/ rifled barrel also, I told him to try polishing the chamber first and then go from there. For the most part it seems to not be an extractor issue as the forend takes a lot of effort to pull the hull out, but there was one time when the extractor couldn't grab a low-brass bird-shot hull and I had to keep slamming the bolt closed and it finally grabbed on the third or fourth try.

Low cup shells are lousy. I have a nice 870 Police Magnum that I trust my life to. It's the slickest, best pump I've ever used. It's my go-to shotgun for the zombies. But it won't feed the low cup stuff worth a damn. I don't even why they sell that crap.

Yea, this old idea that the pumps feed absolutely everything is pure BS. You have to know the ammo you're feeding through your gun, even if it is a pump. Granted, the semis probably don't feed the low recoil stuff as well as a pump. But the pumps do, and will, jam with certain loads.

Recently took the Remington 870 out clay shooting. After about 5 shots the gun began to jam with the shell hull lodged inside the barrel. I have researched online and found that others had similar problems especially while using the winchester universal loads from walmart. I cleaned the barrel and used a bore brush on a drill to polish the portion of the barrel where the shell goes into the barrel. Do you know of any other tips or quick fixes that will help this issue other than changing brands of ammo?

Click to expand...

I've watched a bunch of you tube videos and see this problem talked about in lots of forums. It's a common problem and can happen on guns that have been in service for years. It is not ammunition related. It's mechanical.

You need a "heading cut." There's a Remington field service notice about this problem. What's happening is the face of your breech bolt is locking against the breech of your barrel. If you take your barrel off and look at it you'll see where the bluing is gone.

It's dove and quail season here and I've had Remingtons with this problem maybe 50 times in the past two weeks. The repair is simple BUT it's easy to go crazy and remove too much metal. I would be happy to take a few pictures and show you exactly how to repair your gun.

The reason your gun shoots some shells but not others is simply a matter of rim thickness Try this with your gun:
Make damn sure its completely unloaded.
Set the shotgun on a stool or chair and work the action.
Keep rearward pressure in the fore end and dry fire the gun.
The action will not open.

Once you let the pressure off the fore end the action bar will release. This is what's making your gun hard to cycle. It's simple tolerence stacking. I'll post a few pictures and instructions when I get to the shop and walk you through the repair if you'd like.

Lucky Jack ?????????????? Any 870 does that. Pulling reaward on the forend and it will not cycle. Release that pressure and it cycles. That is the nature of the design and is not a flaw.

So you are going to have guys doing what to repair what when you are describing a non issue.

Please post a copy of the Field Service Notice from Remington that states what you discribed is an issue? Also post a copy from Remington of the procedure to correct it. This is the only safe way to post information and to keep people from DIY on their weapons except when necessary.

Lucky Jack ?????????????? Any 870 does that. Pulling reaward on the forend and it will not cycle. Release that pressure and it cycles. That is the nature of the design and is not a flaw.

So you are going to have guys doing what to repair what when you are describing a non issue.

Please post a copy of the Field Service Notice from Remington that states what you discribed is an issue? Also post a copy from Remington of the procedure to correct it. This is the only safe way to post information and to keep people from DIY on their weapons except when necessary.

Click to expand...

Just left Ed at Remington Field Services a voice mail so I'll get the official notice later today unless he's taken a long weekend. The notice came out on Remingtons' rarc.remington site about 4 or 5 years ago. Fred and the guys at Remington LE training don't cover it in the Armorer course because Armorers aren't authorized to do the repair.

What I was trying to illustrate is how the gun works, so what's happening can be understood. Most end users don't understand how the locking block and breech bolt assembly interact with the action bar and trigger plate assembly.

Anyway, it is not an ammo issue. It is simple tolerence stacking and can be repaired by any Remington repair center, Illion or gunsmith who knows about the problem.

Look forward to seeing it. I find it is an ammo issue as this ammo does this will all models. If the issue was five years old I fail to understand how it was not corrected on new 870's as this is a "Today issue" with factory new weapons. So, your response on the issue is unclear to me.

By all means if you can assist members in resloving an issue safely then you are contributing big time.

Glock Talk is the #1 site to discuss the world’s most popular pistol, chat about firearms, accessories and more. As our membership continues to grow we look forward to reading your stories and learning from your experiences. Membership is free and we welcome all types of shooters, whether you're a novice or a pro. Come for the info, stay and make some friends..